Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has called for weapons to be removed from Iraq's holy cities, after fighting in Karbala last week left more than 50 people dead.

Speaking after meeting the country's most prominent Shia cleric in Najaf, Mr Maliki proposed placing the cities under the protection of the Iraqi army.

Mr Maliki and Ayatollah Ali Sistani also discussed the government crisis that has seen several ministers resign.

Others are boycotting meetings, leaving at least 17 cabinet seats empty.

One of the main blocs in the governing United Iraqi Alliance, that of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, pulled out of the government in April in protest at Mr Maliki's refusal to set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal.

The major Sunni alliance in parliament, the Iraqi Accord Front, quit the Cabinet after accusing the prime minister of sectarianism.

"I asked [the ayatollah] for his help in forming a government and nominating new ministers, or if there was the possibility to form a new government based on technocrats," Mr Maliki said after meeting the reclusive cleric.

Mr Maliki did not say how Ayatollah Sistani responded to the idea.

'Demilitarized zones'

The prime minister said he had also discussed with the ayatollah how to prevent further violence in Iraq's holy cities.

Mr Maliki said he was considering declaring areas around all religious shrines "safe havens", where only the military would be entitled to carry weapons.

"Regarding all the holy shrines for all the sects, the holy cities must turn into secure, demilitarized zones," he said.

"This idea will spare us many potential problems."

Mr Maliki's proposal comes just days after Moqtada Sadr announced a six-month suspension of his Mehdi Army militia.

Security officials blamed the group for much of the fighting in Karbala, which disrupted a major Shia festival and forced hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to flee.

Earlier, US troops detained in Karbala an Iraqi man suspected of links with the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The "highly-sought individual" is suspected of working with the force to transport militants to its training camps in Iran, and of providing "lethal aid to terrorists" in central Baghdad, a US military statement said.

Troops also confiscated computer equipment, communication devices and other documents which they said might lead "to information on other IRGC-Quds Force illicit activities intended to disrupt security operations in Iraq".

US officials have often accused the Quds Force of training and arming Shia militia, an allegation Tehran denies.

Two weeks ago, Washington said such efforts to destabilize Iraq might lead it to designate the force a "terrorist" organization.

Also on Wednesday, the US military reported the deaths of another four of its soldiers.

It said three were killed when a roadside bomb exploded beside their patrol in an eastern district of Baghdad on Tuesday. The fourth died in fighting west of the capital.

In other news, a bomb exploded near a military convoy in Baghdad, reportedly killing at least one person.

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Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki